An article in The Times of India back in April of this year confirmed a trend in the current generation of young adults moving into the workforce, something I’d noticed earlier but not really been able to nail down. What opened my eyes was a few months of contract work last year in which I found myself training and working alongside teens and twenty-somethings for the first time since the early nineties.
I was astounded by their utter lack of self-discipline, like no group of employees I’d ever seen before.
Last Man Standing
Officially a senior citizen now, I’m nowhere near as quick as I once was to navigate my way around a desktop or use the latest PC tools without occasional assistance. The kids have me absolutely whipped in that department. It takes me a week to get good at things they can learn and repeat in an hour. What I’m absolutely great at is showing up consistently and making it through the workday no matter what else is going on in my life at the time. The youngsters? Not so much.
It started early. Even a week or two into the contract, rarely did all six of us make it through an entire workday, and everyone but me was perpetually late. Every day. Almost every morning, one or more would call in with a new tale of woe, or else show up and only manage to last until 11:00 a.m. Emotional issues, family problems and an eating disorder led to weeks of lost man-hours. One pleasant young fellow took sick days every time he was scheduled to do work he didn’t enjoy. You could predict which days he’d call in by looking at which column on the assignment sheet his name appeared in.
By the time our contract ran out, I was last man standing. Everybody I trained with — kids forty or more years younger — had either quit or been granted some form of leave. What do employers do with that? They accommodate. They hire more recent immigrants and senior citizens. They absorb the costs associated with their younger employees flaking daily, then pass them on to the consumer.
Reduced Frustration Tolerance
Apparently, this is indeed a trend, and it’s worldwide. The generation currently between ages 14 and 29 displays these behavioral changes most obviously, but if there’s any truth behind the Zhejiang University study linking short-video addiction to loss of impulse control, we can expect the problem to continue into subsequent generations. TikTok videos, Instagram reels and YouTube shorts are not going anywhere soon, and the problems associated with over-consuming them will surely show up when Gen Alpha begins to join the workforce in large numbers.
Haimanti Mukherjee explains:
“The findings revealed that individuals with short-video addiction exhibited the same neurological patterns as people with substance abuse disorders, where the brain’s reward system becomes overstimulated. As a result, people tend to act more impulsively and make quicker decisions, especially in risky situations.”
The consequences: a documented rise in anxiety, aggression and degenerating social skills in young adults.
A Trend That Doesn’t Bode Well
Dr Priyanka Banokar Pande says:
“The rapid stimulation these platforms deliver conditions the brain to demand constant novelty, resulting in diminished attention spans, emotional dysregulation, and reduced frustration tolerance.”
This is precisely what I had been observing. Pediatrician Jagdish Kathwate notes:
“Frequent short-video use may not just impact the child’s cognitive health, attention, or self-control but also overall well-being.”
No self-control. That doesn’t bode well. No ability to deal with anything difficult, to concentrate or to push through in less-than-desirable circumstances. No ability to prioritize long-term goals over present-moment emotions. I’m not suggesting for a moment that short-video addiction is the sole cause of the self-control problem; other aspects of the tech revolution certainly maximize anxiety and the inability to concentrate. But let’s not imagine a social trend this significant is strictly confined to the unbelieving segment of the working world. We’re going to see it in churches too. Frankly, it’s there already.
For This Very Reason
Self-control is a crucial element of following Christ. It’s the fruit of the Spirit, which is to say it’s part of the transformation regimen through which everyone who trusts in Jesus goes as a matter of course. God is working away to conform us to the character of his Son, but he also requires some consistent input from us. We do not initiate the Spirit’s work, but we can certainly thwart it. Peter writes, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control.” For what very reason? Because coming to a mature knowledge of Christ by studying and living out God’s word enables the believer to escape “the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”.
I’m not talking here about illegal substance abuse, sexual sin, a gambling habit or other obvious manifestations of the flesh in the believer. I’m talking about a chronic deficiency in the basic life skills that equip a person to function consistently in the work force, like daily exercise, healthy eating, keeping a regular schedule and getting adequate sleep — things that contribute to a life of usefulness and stability rather than disorder, a constant hand out for help, and failing to finish the things you have taken on.
Those Little Things
I’m noticing more and more young-adult Christians — primarily but not exclusively women — who are not just pudgy or soft, but morbidly obese to the point of serious discomfort. Have they been calling Uber Eats significantly more than average since lockdowns introduced us all to bad eating habits? I can’t tell you, but I do know how easily finances get out of control for people who regularly take a pass on preparing their own dinner. You can’t pay two or three times what a meal is actually worth night after night without ending up in trouble balancing the books. Usually these ladies are lovely people in many ways, but one or more aspects of their life has gotten out of control. I’m noticing more and more young Christians who are emotionally unstable, break down easily, and lack the peace and security that ought to manifest in a mature believer. I’m noticing even young believers have their difficulties showing up for work day after day after day.
More than anything, I’m noticing the most difficult aspect of the Christian life for young believers these days, male or female, is forcing themselves to do those little things they just don’t feel like doing right now. Bible study. Prayer. Meditation. Things you just can’t grow in the knowledge of Christ without doing regularly. Is it possible something as basic as how they use their cellphone is having a negative effect on the Spirit’s work in young lives?
Honestly, I don’t think we can rule it out.
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